The RNC Debacle

Rarely have the e-mails flowed in as quickly as they did Monday as news spread of the RNC's profligacy and of its highly objectionable choice of entertainment venues. They are coming from individuals who, as recently as Friday, had at my urging sent money to the National Republican Congressional Committee to help in the effort to oust Nancy Pelosi. They are coming from people who are living on tight budgets in an era of economic uncertainty but who had sacrificed because the country cannot afford another two years of a Pelosi-Reid led Congress.

They are coming from very, very angry Republicans.

And they are right to be angry.

Whether or not RNC staffers share the very traditional beliefs on moral questions of the vast majority of their regular voters, the idea of partying at even "upscale" sex-themed nightclubs is quite obviously not only at the top of the stupid charts, it also reflects thorough-going contempt for the folks that sent them to work in the first place.

This latest scandal follows another one wherein the crackerjack staff at the RNC circulated a memo dripping in disdain for the conservative rank and file . The memo-flap soon passed as staff memos just aren't that interesting.

This scandal will not soon pass. It is a huge blow at a time of otherwise gathering momentum, and the GOP's elected leadership need to respond decisively, as do Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, John Thune and Sarah Palin – the four Republicans most likely to seek the party's nomination in 2012 and to have a shot of gaining it.

The RNC has two jobs right now – to raise money for the campaign ahead and to secure the presidential primaries against the almost-certain monkey-wrenching that President Obama's most zealous supporters will try to effect come the first quarter of 2012.

There has been almost no attention paid to the latter issue, and the results on the search for funds have been mixed. Whatever progress had been made is now certain to be pulverized at least among the small donor category so vital to building a party's grassroots. Who is going to sacrifice the cost of a night out at the movies with the family so that GOP staff and high rollers can party with the pole-dancers?